Portraits Art: Portrait Head

The Moche culture, which thrived on the north coast of Peru circa 100 to 800, was one of the few to develop a form of portraiture that sought to capture individualized features in a naturalistic style and with a high degree of accuracy. The reappearance of idiosyncratic details in multiple portraits, moreover, indicates an interest not only in physical likeness, but also in representing the same person at various moments or stages in life. Although molds were used to produce the portraits, each seems to have been slightly altered to give it a unique appearance.

This Moche portrait depicts a man of perhaps twenty to thirty years of age. His round face is marked by broad features. He wears long hair and a headdress that might originally have been painted. Stripes of darker color run down either side of his face, and he bears a distinguishing facial scar on his upper lip. Circular plugs in the man’s earlobes are likely a marker of his elite status. Indeed, extant works suggest that portraits of this kind were reserved for important figures in society—rulers, nobility, warriors, and in some cases, prisoners. All known examples represent men.

Like other Moche portraits, this head is a hollowed-out, three-dimensional vessel. Although most Moche portrait vessels known today were found in graves (often as a result of looting), the wear and tear exhibited by these objects attest to a utilitarian nature. These vessels, which come in a number of different shapes, often with stirrup-shaped spouts attached, were, in fact, containers for liquids such as a chicha, a fermented maize beer. The shape of this particular head suggests its use as a bowl. Unfortunately, objects that are used are often short-lived. It is likely, therefore, that the number of extant Moche portraits represents just a small fraction of those that were produced.

Although evidence is lacking regarding the distribution of Moche portrait vessels, we do have some clues. The use of molds in the creation of these portraits points to mass reproduction, while their small size—generally between six and twelve inches high—indicates portability, hence easy dissemination over distances. These circumstances suggest that portraits might have been sent out by rulers to vassal states as assertions of sovereignty or traded between elite groups or personages as symbols of alliance.